My point is that you (and those that believe that the government will ever do anything correctly and/or with our best interests in mind) have now given said nutjobs authority to do just that. Many in our government have been chomping at the bit for years wanting to find a way to establish more control over the internet. This is the beginning of that end game. Just wait and see.

I also hate to be the one to inform you, but many in that "moral majority" have also been liberals. Remember Tipper Gore?

As far as who's side I'm on...neither. I think Bob Dylan has a song about something similar.....

Mark my words....this will not end well.

What will happen when the FCC decides to use the new powers to "clean up" (i.e. censor) the Internet the same way it's done to TV and Radio? Am I the only person who believes the government will fuck this up the same way they've fucked up everything else they meddle with? People are so very shortsighted.

There are several tools which allow you to put an RTSP stream on a webpage using VLC and other tools. The Hikvision camera you have will support that.

There are a lot of ways to answer this. Much is dependant on the types of cameras you are installing. Standard video cameras (which will be the cheapest) simply require a CCTV grade coaxial cable (RG59 or RG6) and an 18 Ga. 2 conductor. There is specially made cable that has both these combined together, called Siamese cable. You will be able to get approx 1000' out of RG59 and 1200-1400' out of RG6. At those extreme lengths, being anywhere closer than 2' to HV lines (especially 220V) may cause interference. Shorter lengths will not matter so much, and intermittent contact with power cords and the like should have little to no effect.

Baluns are used to convert from coaxial cable to UTP cable such as CAT5 or 6, and bring their own problems to the table. Using them allows for easier switching to an IP camera solution in the future, since there will already be Ethernet rated cable in place. NVT has many devices of this type, as well as many others. http://www.nvt.com/


IP cameras are subject to the same limitations as any ethernet device (320ft) and PoE devices change that some as well. There are ways to lengthen an ethernet run through the use of mid-range bridges. IP cameras will be the easiest to install (especially if you will be using PoE), and will offer the most future proof solution, as they will be the standard for many more years to come. They are are anywhere from 2-4x the cost of standard video cameras, and I don't mean the cheap chinese ones. Spending money on good cameras up front is a worthwhile investment. Axis cameras, while somewhat pricey, are universally accepted by most if not all NVR's, and will set up very quickly and easily. http://www.axis.com/

This will all depend on the conditions of the site. Do you expect vandalism? Get a rugged dome. Is it an area that has low lighting at night? Get an IR-equipped camera but don't expect too much from it at any real distance. The camera type is mostly aesthetic unless vandal resistance is a big issue. Then height is your friend. Here is a site I just found that can calculate what lenses you will need based on viewing distance and field of view. http://www.cctvlenscalculator.com/

I do not recommend putting these devices directly on the internet, as they are proprietary (mostly Windows based) systems and as such may have holes you won't know about. Put it behind a good firewall and gateway, and then VPN into the network to connect to it. They can be configured for direct internet access in most cases though, to be accessed by their client software by internet IP. Good luck to you if you try it.

Many commercial DVR/NVR's will have this functionality built in. Motion recording, motion event triggering, motion search, and motion search by area are rather common features in commercial CCTV software. I have never seen anything approaching this in open source or free software.

There are several brands I would recommend. Any of these can sell standalone servers or just the server software.
Exacq (www.exacq.com)
milestone (milestonesys.com)
Avigilon (avigilon.com)

Of those three, Avigilon has the better video handling, IMHO. Especially when working with 3, 5, or 16MP cameras.

All are somewhat comparable in price.

For decent cameras on the cheap, go to supercircuits.com and browse their collection of recorders and cameras. They have a pretty large array of IR-boosted cameras as well.

Outside of that though, one of the best things you can do to increase both the effectiveness of your cameras and the security of your porperty is to install lighting over as much of your property as possible. Night/Motion-sensing lights can be had very cheaply and will do more to deter nighttime theft and/or break-ins than anything else you can do.

You may think that the video quality of a non-megapixel camera is bad, but the reality is that the majority of commercial systems in use today simply don't use them. The general idea commercially is to put as many cameras out there as economically possible, give them adequate lighting (ALL cameras need good lighting, unless you start talking about very pricey ones), and choose a recording system that provides an adequate storage duration (usually 30 days) with a decent framerate and image quality.

A decent quality 4-8 camera networkable and motion-sensing video system can be had easily these days for well under $2000. Now, if someone else is doing the installation, that price can go way up. It's far cheaper to do it yourself.